Back to School
by CrazySodapopLuvinJD
Summary: Soda gets fired from his job and must go back to school to get a new one. not much of a summery but please read anyway
1. Default Chapter

Ok first thank you Rocky and Liz who helped me with this story, and 2nd we only own Roxy and anyone else you don't know. Please review and let us know what you think.

*Soda's POV*

I sighed and looked back down at the letters from Sandy I'd received...returned unopened. I know I should be mad at her for why she had to leave, but I was in love, I couldn't help but miss her each time I thought about her. 

"Soda, you okay?" Steve asked.

"Yea I'm ok buddy...just thinking."

"Yea but you spacing off like this all the time is gonna end up getting you fired if you aren't careful."

"I'm trying not to but it's hard."

"I know."

"Well its too late to do anything about it now." I gulped and looked up as my boss came in the door, he had already warned me about daydreaming twice already

"Sodapop, can I see you in my office?" he said to me.

"Yes sir." I said getting up and following him to the back

He sat down behind his desk. "Soda, have a seat." I did as he said.

"Soda you've been slacking off an awful lot lately. And don't get me wrong you're a great worker. But we need you to work, not daydream all day."

"But sir please, I've been kinda distracted lately, I just need another chance."

"Mr. Curtis you've had your chances, I'm sorry but we're going to have to let you go."

*back at home*

"You got fired?" I sighed as Darry began lecturing me

"What are we gonna do now? We've got bills to pay, and do you know how hard it will be for you to get another job without finishing High school?"

"I know Darry, but I didn't mean to," I tried reasoning with my brother.

"Soda what could possibly be more important than actually doing your work?"

"I was thinking about Sandy again, I'm sorry..."

"Well Soda, maybe you should go back to school then. That would take your mind off Sandy and you'd be able to get a better job."

"School?!" I asked confused. I hated school and Darry knew that.

"Sodapop's going to school?" Ponyboy asked as he entered the house.

"I said he should go back to school, he lost his job today and he really needs to go back to school so he can get another one." Darry said and I sighed really not wanting to go back to school

"Come on Soda you should go. You might even like going to school again."

"School's school, I never liked it and I never will!" I screamed. They didn't get that I hated school. I always have and always will.

"C'mon Soda, it ain't as bad as you think it is. I mean Steve will be there," Ponyboy's eyes were begging, making me want to give in.

"Pony please don't do this to me..." I begged but he continued, I finally sighed deciding to give in

"Fine...I'll go back...but ONLY so I can get another job..."

*At school*

Everyone started whispering the minute I got out of Two-Bit's car. It felt awkward going back to school after so many months.

"Pony I don't wanna do this. I'm just gonna go home." I said as I started to turn to leave but Pony grabbed my arm

"Please stay Soda. At least give it a chance."

I gave Pony a dirty look. "Look, I'm here, now I want to go home."

"Please Sodapop? I mean it can be like the old times when you and Steve use to get in trouble." Pony kept begging. This kid was so persistent.

"Kid's got a point," Steve said lighting a cigarette. They were all looking at me, waiting to see if I would stay.

"Fine...I'll stay." I sighed as a girl dressed in all black came running up to us squealing happily

"Ok what's with the hyper chick?" Two-Bit asked and we shrugged

"Hey guys what's up? I missed you guys so much." she said barley able to keep still

"Who are you, and where have you been all my life?" Two-Bit wasted no time trying to get his arm around her waist.

She looked at Two-Bit wildly. "You drunk Two-Bit?" She started smelling his breathe which made all of us laugh.

"You guys don't remember me do you?" She asked looking around and we all shook out heard

"Roxy? Roxanne Winston? Dallys sister? Anything ringing a bell here?"

My head snapped up when I heard Dally's name.

"Roxy?" Two-Bit asked surprised quickly taking his arm back to his side. "Is it really you?"

"No Two-Bit, it's just someone who happens to have her name and exact relationship to Dallas Winston," she said sarcastically. "Where's Dally anyways? I haven't seen my brother since how long I could remember."

Everyone was quiet not knowing who was going to tell her about Dally.

"Something wrong? I mean I haven't gotten any letters from him in a while. But I figured he's been busy or something." She said still smiling

"Umm Roxy I don't know how to tell you this but...Dallys dead..." I said slowly as her smile faded quickly

"Dead? What happened?" She asked in a whisper as her eyes began to water

"He robbed a store, and got shot by the fuzz." Two-Bit looked down.

"But not before saving about a dozen little kids from a burning building." Steve added.

"Yeah and he helped me and Johnny too." Pony said quietly. He still blamed himself for all of what happened, even if it wasn't his fault.

"Johnny? Where's Johnny?" She asked through sobs.

"Johnny's dead too...he got hurt while there were saving the little kids." Two-bit said as Roxy sniffled

"There're both dead? No.They can't be...Dally can't be gone..." She said crying even harder

She was now on the ground crying creating quite a scene. I knelt down and she started pounding on my chest not wanting to believe and yet still believing.

"Here, I really think you should have this, he'd want you to have it." Steve pulled out Dally's necklace from his pocket handing it over to Roxy.

She sniffled again and took the necklace from Steve looking at it through her tears.

"Thanks Steve..." She whispered and I took it from her wrapping it around her neck

"Just like your brother..."

"I ain't like Dally. If I were like Dally I wouldn't be crying. I would be getting on with life. Dally was fearless, and he tried teaching me how too. Maybe if I were fearless he would still be alive. Maybe if I were like him he would still be alive. If only..." She was getting madder and madder. I was getting more curious. Why had she gone to juvi? Dally had never talked about it and we never asked.

"What happened?" Steve asked with curiosity in his voice.

"Nothing forget it, just forget it." She stood up and wiped her tears away running into the school, leaving us all there.

"She used to be this sweet innocent girl...what happened?" Two-bit asked confused

"I don't know but she's acting really weird...Wonder what she went to juvi for..." Steve said as we started inside

"Hey guys maybe I should follow her, take her to the Dingo or something." This could be my excuse not to go to school.

"Nice try Sodapop, but you ain't ditching on your first day." Pony gave me my books and with the help of Steve, dragged me into the classroom, making me sit down in an empty desk.

"You're going to stay in school the whole day even if it means babysitting you all day," Pony sure liked me being in school.

Ok that's it, Please review


	2. Chapter 2

You know who we own and who we don't own 

*Soda's POV*

"Ok I made it through half the day, can I go home now?" I asked sitting at a small table outside with the gang during lunch

"No, you gotta stay the whole day, and tomorrow, and the next. Everyday until summer." Pony said spitting his sandwich all over the place.

"Say it don't spray it," Two-Bit quickly picked up his sandwich to avoid Pony's.

"Why do I have to stay here so much?" I asked sighing and putting my head in my hands

"Because you need to finish school, you haven't even really given it a chance come on Soda..." 

What do you call this half day then? Besides maybe you dig sitting in a chair listening to the teacher sprout off useless facts, but I don't."

"Its not useless Soda, you gotta know this stuff later on. And of course its gonna be bad if you keep thinking that way."

"Do I really need to know that Lincoln freed the slaves, or that Roosevelt was in office for 4 terms? That's history, done, over with."

"Glory Sodapop, you did learn something," Two-Bit smiled and I couldn't help but smile as well when I realized I did.

"See Soda you aren't dumb like you keep saying, you can learn this stuff if you give it a chance" Pony said smiling and I nodded

"Well I guess it's not AS bad as I thought..." Just then Roxy came running across the school with two socs right behind her.

"Why can't those socs just leave us alone?" I asked as we jumped up and chased after the soc to help Roxy

"Get away from me!" She screamed at the socs.

"Not so fast baby," One of them had a sly grin on his face. He jumped on top of Roxy and she fell to the ground.

"Get off my and leave me alone." She cried as the soc pinned her to the ground

"Nope, not until you tell me what I want."

"I don't even know you, what could you possibly want to know from me?"

"You knew Dallas Winston right?"

"Possibly."

"Don't lie to me and just answer the question."

"Fine he was my brother now what do you want?"

"Revenge..."

"Revenge for what?"

Two-Bit reached them first prying the soc off Roxy with all of his might. His friend disappeared once he saw us coming, and Steve chased after him.

"Revenge for what?!" Roxy screamed at the soc pushing Two-Bit to the side. They were eyeing each other now and all we could do is watch.

"Your damn brother raped my little sister." The soc growled and we all looked at him in shock

"Dally wouldn't do that..." Roxy whispered

"Well he did and now it's time for you to pay up."

"No... No...That's bull." Roxy stumbled over her words. "You're lying and you know it!"

"Katie said it was Dallas and she wouldn't lie to me about something like that, and since that bastards dead I'll take it out on the next best thing, and that's you." he said pointing to Roxy

"OK, reunion's over." I stepped in the middle of them only to find Josh's fist meeting my face.

I stumbled backwards, but immediately gained my balanced again. I punched him in his stomach as he doubled over in pain.

"Stop." I turned around surprised to see Roxy holding my arm back. "Just please stop..."

"Roxy he's being an ass. You know Dally wouldn't do anything like that and he's planning on hurting you for it why should I stop?"

"Just stop...I'll tell you later. Just stop fighting." She broke down once again tears streaming down her face.

"You never cared if we fought before. Why are you caring now?" I asked with sudden curiosity once again.

"Just get lost and let us finish this Curtis." josh said shoving me out of the way

I stood there kinda surprised and taken back. The others also looked confused.

"We're already finished Josh, get away." 

"I decide when we're finished. This ain't over yet Roxy, I'll get you some other time." He gave Roxy one last look and headed back inside the school.

"Alright Roxy what's going on? Why didn't you want us fighting?" I asked once Josh was gone

"I'll tell you later." She brushed me off turning to leave.

I grabbed her arm making her yelp in pain, I didn't want to hurt her, but she won't tell us what's going on.

"Later is now Roxy."

"Please, we just wanna know what's going on Rox." I said lowering my voice a bit

"Just...just something. Forget it you wouldn't understand." She tried to get free of my grip, but I only loosened up a little.

"Just try me, I may end up surprising you."

"What if you don't surprise me?"

"You know what I mean...now please just tell us what's going on."

"Fine, but let go first you're starting to hurt me."

"Sorry I didn't mean to." I said loosening up some more

"Ok, you see it was like this, and then this, and then that. So that led to this and this led to that. And when it was all over that ended up leading to here." 

"Did anyone understand that?" Steve asked us all.

"Ok Roxy can you go through that one more time...in English this time?"

"It was English..."

"Roxy please...if something's wrong we just wanna help."

"Well you can't. Don't you see? You guys can't help me. It's too late..." She snapped at us surprising everyone. 

"...She's already dead." This time her voice was no more but a whisper.

"Who's dead? Rox what are you talking about?"

"Can't you just leave me alone? I told you guys it's too late! It's just too late."

"Guys we'll be back..." I said pulling Roxy off to the side away from everyone

"Rox we just want to try to help...something's bothering you and we want to be there for you..."

"Yeah well, where were you guys a month ago?"

"Roxy you were in jail, even if we knew what was going on we couldn't have helped with it from here...now what's going on?" I asked wiping a tear from her eye

"She's dead Sodapop, she's dead and it's all my fault. It's all my fault," She looked like a little kid at that point. I sure wished Dally were here, if he was then he could calm her down, at least enough to make sense.

"Shhh its ok...Who's she and why would it be your fault?" I asked hugging her gently as she started to cry

"Rachel's dead and it's all my fault." At least she told me who "she" was.

"Wait, wasn't Rachel that girl you used to hang out with all the time before you went to juvi?" I asked and she nodded slowly

"What happened to her?"

"Don't you listen? She's dead!"

"I know but how?"

"Fight, blades, people," She wasn't making any sense at all.

"Hey Rox why don't we ditch the rest of the day? I mean I'll take you by the Dingo and we can talk about it that sound ok?" She only nodded her head in approval. The hard part is to get past Ponyboy and the rest of the gang without them noticing.

"Alright then we should go before they say something about me leaving on my first day back." I said grabbing her books as we started for the Dingo

"Wait Soda, I'm not so sure about this. I mean won't they get mad?"

"Don't worry about it. They'll get over it and I wanna know what's making you think Rachel's death was your fault."

"Do we have to talk about it?"

"Not really, but we can always sit there and catch up on what's been going on around here until you feel a bit better."

"Fine." Well at least she was agreeing to come.

"I just don't like seeing you this upset kid...you understand, right?"

"Whatever."

"Come on kiddo please don't be mad at me... it's me, your buddy Sodapop..." I said turning her around and grinning like crazy

"Sodapop, you're crazy." I would have been offended by it, but she grinned crazily as well

"There's that Roxanne Winston smile we all know." I said playfully and gently punching her cheek

She smiled, but she looked distant almost like she was thinking of something else.

"Come on, we should probably get to the Dingo before they notice I'm gone." I said changing the subject as we walked

"Soda, it was terrible. It was absolutely terrible." She took a left turn instead of a right heading to the direction of the park and my house.

"Ok Ummm what was?" I asked confused as I took the same turn

"The fight, it was just terrible. They used blades and bottles, and everything they could...and then..." She stopped dead in her tracks making me trip over my foot as I tried to do the same.

"Then what?" I asked as I finally regained my balance next to her

"One of them had a heater. They must have stolen it from the guard. This kid bumped into one of them, and Rachel defended the kid. They all started fighting. Everyone against someone, it was an all out fiasco with chains and knives. We were winning until someone pulled out a heater...and fired..." She was sobbing now unable to stop her tears from falling.

"Awww honey its ok." I said pulling her into a hug letting her cry on my shoulder.

"Come on, let's get you to my house so you can sit down." I said softly keeping my arm around her and leading her to the house

"She's just a kid Sodapop, nothing but a kid."

"I know...she didn't deserve to die like that." I said keeping her close as I tried to calm her down some

"No one deserved to die like that." She started pounding on my chest. I let her continue until she stopped now just sobbing uncontrollably.

"You know kid, you keep pounding on my chest like that I might wanna start working out more..." I said trying to make her smile. She gave me a small smile but continued to keep crying.

"Its gonna be ok hon...' I said hugging her again as we got to my house.

"Somehow I don't think it is," She whispered so quietly I could barely hear.

"It will be...I promise..." I said kissing the top of her head gently. She fell asleep in my arms with a few tears escaping here and there. I watched her sleep, god she looks pretty. I just smiled again before moving so we were somewhat lying down on the couch as I dozed off as well

Ok that's it please review and let us know what you think


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